1993 (?) Giant Cadex carbon fibre frame advice

[mr_gumby]

Goode evening everyone,

So today a colleague and I went through the bike stuff in his garage. He has to get rid of some stuff. He showed me a Giant Cadex carbon fibre frame with aluminum lugs. I am 175cm and the thing is tiny... 43 cm max. Probably WAY to small for me. On the other hand, this frame looked just amazing with the purple finish and the clear coated middle sections showing glinting carbon fibre. I am telling myself that I could build it up for my gf.
It is the same as here: download/file.php?id=196731

Have never owned such an old carbon fibre frame. Are they safely rideable or are they becoming brittle over the years?

Thanks!

-Dan

 

[xxnick1975]

If it looks undamaged and your missus isn’t planning on racing it, build and ride

Any old bike can break, just be sensible

 

[ishaw]

Re:

That's my frame in the pic, hanging in my garage. All 3 gone now, but I miss the cadex. They are nice frames imho, I regret selling mine tbh. If it's as good as you say, and you have a use for it, I'd go for it. If not, I'd happily buy it and build a cool bike for my eldest with it, though he'd have a few years to go before it fitted him.

 

[mr_gumby]

Re:

Thanks for your answers. He said I should make him an offer. Don't want to lowball him but I don't want to pay too much either. It also comes with the fork... what would be a reasonable basis for negotiations?

cheers,
Dan

 

[Remko]

Re:

If it's a CFM3 it has the steel forks instead of the very nice aluminium forks of the 2 and 1. They came as 16/18/20/22 inch. The 16 might be just too small for your 1.75 m. The 18 is fine with a 100-120 mm stem.
If it's in a really nice condition I'd say 60 for a CFM3 and 80 for a 2 of 1. The 1 came as a full m900 bike. I think the 3 had the Exage and the 2 had the DX group.

 

[mr_gumby]

Re:

It is, I think, a CFM 3. Only saw it once two dass ago in a dimly lit garage where I took this very bad picture (no flash): https://ibb.co/kAhSyw
Is this the aluminum fork or the Steel one? It is different from the one in the picture linked earlier. Traded the purple Gary Fisher Montare in for it (cf. other Post)as it is was too big for me anyways.
Have a great weekend!
Dan

 

[ishaw]

Re:

Can't tell you what fork you have, bit might be worth googling a fork recall for giant cadex, as I seem to remember someone mentioning it. No idea what it was or what fork it concerned, but pretty sure it was cadex related. That said, I like the look of the forks and would take a risk depending on the reason for the recall.

 

[Remko]

Re:

Well, that's obviously a 1993 CFM1 frameset with the aluminium forks

 

[hamster]

Nice, I always wonder why people don't value these frames more highly.

Don't worry about the age - I sail a boat with a 25 year old carbon fibre mast. They will essentially last forever if undamaged.

 

[mr_gumby]

Re:

The mast-argument settles it for me
Getting the frame tomorrow - gues this will be a long-term project with a long-term goal of fitting it with the '93 XTR group set (but that doesn't fit into my budget right now).
If its the 16", I guess I'll build it up for her for Christmas/the anniversary or something (to erode that "just one bike in the apartment"-policy) My gf won't go off road with it or really ride the living daylights out of it so the frame won't be exposed to great stress. At the moment she's riding her '90 Team Marin with narrow Schwalbe Marathon Plus' to the office. The Cadex could well be turned into a really nice and sporty hybrid bike for the weekend! (for now)

As for the recall: I googled it and read something about a suspension fork-recall. I will have to do some additional research before I'll let someobody else ride it.